Hound Dog News

Apparently there is a new law passed by our Congress . . . thought I should let you know about it in case you hadn't heard. I mean, I hadn't heard about it! Thank goodness for one of Joslyn's teachers for informing her of this new law or I could have been taken to jail or something!!

Are you ready for it??

Here it is:

Congress has passed a law that you can NOT do pranks on April Fool's Day (at least not at school).

Whew . . . you might have gone to jail with me huh???

You're welcome.

(PS did the leprechaun pee in your toilet too?? I just love how our food magically turns green in front of our eyes on St. Patrick's Day! I pour WHITE milk into the cup and when they look in the cup it is GREEN . . . doesn't that just SCREAM magic?!?!)

Since we got Joslyn a BIG present for Christmas, I wanted to make something instead of buy something for her. She loves to cook, and I thought she could use her own cookbook that she could add recipes to and one that had all of our family favorites.

I just used what I had on hand to make it (that's why it's missing the middle ring . . . I only had two of the big ones on hand).

Her favorite color is blue, so I tried to do everything in shades of blue.

I embossed her initials in blue for the cover.Here is Joslyn's favorite meal . . . Chicken Squares.

This kid is TERRIFIED!!

I should have done a video of it so you could see her shaking . . . seriously scared!

Ellie saw the camera coming out so she joined in and decided she was scared too.
And what could be so scary you ask????
The car wash . . . that's what.

Chloe celebrated her 3rd birthday a few days ago.

You know that means no more freebies right???

I mean it's always "kids under 3" get in free.

Ellie got her a new Tea Party set

(that was great since the glass one was thrown away the night before

since it has been left out 3 nights in a row . . . in the middle of the kitchen floor

with food still left on it).

Chloe was so happy that she went over to start having a tea party

right away . . . who cared about the other gifts!!
We convinced her to come back and finish opening her presents.
It was a very low key birthday w
ith low key presents . . . I think she loved them more than her Christmas presents!


Though she still earns her nickname "Trouble",
is a ball of fun to have around!
I love when she goes up to Ellie and rubs her back
and talks in a sweet "mommy" voice to her
and wants to help her because she loves that sister of hers!

You know that I love the snow and the winter.

Usually we don't get much snow here in

Ferntucky . . . and when we do it usually melts within a few hours.

This year we have a bunch of snow and it has lasted for over a month!!!

It is almost gone, but I hear there may be more on it's way to replenish our supplies.

This is Chloe's first year to really understand and enjoy the snow.

She had a ball playing outside!

The bigger kids tried to make a slide and a fort. When we went to Utah for Christmas

it snowed

and Ellie was in HEAVEN I tell ya!

I decided to take Scott's new camera out for a trial run

and use the zoom lens

(cuz I didn't want to put shoes on & get in the snow myself--I like to look at it and not play in it).

The kids had a lot of fun visiting family in Utah.

They have been begging for a couple of months now

to go visit . . . EVERY.ONE.OF.THEM.

Ellie loves to go shopping with Grandpa.

(Chloe called him Grandma . . . it was Grandma and Grandma)

They met a new friend/cousin. Ryker . . . he's a keeper!

(He even let me hold him just before I left . . . just so you know--that's a big deal!)

The kids LOVE to go to Shelley's house and play with their cousins.

And it's especially fun with a house full of
girls . . . that means they get to do girly things like do pedicures.
(Austin doesn't agree with the "fun" of that part . . . but he puts up with it)



I am bummed that I forgot the camera when we went to Scott's mom's house.
We had fun visiting with his brothers and their kids and eating good food.
I really wish I had taken the camera to the door with us when
we showed up on their doorstep and they didn't know we were coming!

Christmas morning came a little later than I had anticipated.

I had planned on getting up at 4am . . . but Chloe began the night before sick and I was stressed out wondering if we should cancel our trip or go ahead with it.

At any rate . . . around 6am the kiddos got up and we started opening presents.

Austin got a bunch of snowboarding stuff.

He knew most of what he was getting and this shirt may have been the only surprise.

Chloe took a while getting herself awake enough to figure out what was going on,

but once she did she made quick work of the wrapping paper!

Joslyn was thoroughly surprised with her iPod Touch . . . can you tell???

That was mostly all that she got . . . but, I don't think she cared!

(I did make her something else that I'll have to take a picture of and post.)

Ellie was thrilled with all of her presents!!

She and Chloe got a few "twin" items that they can play with together.

Drew had been eyeing these shoes and Austin picked them up for her for Christmas.

She even inherited an extra pair of pajamas this year because the ones for Joslyn were too small.

She got a new bike as well (it's still sitting in the box in the kitchen!).

Scott had been out of his "mainstay" for a while so Santa restocked his supply.

After the gifts were opened, Chloe's temperature read normal,

we announced to go pack your bags because we're heading to Utah!!

(Okay so I had already packed the little girls bags and mine and Scotts as well.

Austin had found out about the trip and had packed his bag,

so it was just the two older girls that had to pack)

A surprise trip is the BEST!!

Just in case things don't work out . . . there's no whining to deal with!

There's no "how many days?" being asked every 5 minutes either!!

The month of December flew by without a word published on my blog. December is crazy busy for me! I even tried to get my Christmas cards made early . . . they were ready by September . . . and I STILL didn't get them mailed out until the week of Christmas. However, Primary is what really had me running around like my head was chopped off!

To begin the month Drew had her birthday. We have a schedule to our birthdays: one year is just a family birthday, the next year you can have one or two friends over to do something, and then they can have a party. This year (okay last year really) was to do something with one or two friends. Drew picked me and Joslyn to go on a shopping spree for her birthday!!! What fun! We did some shopping and then went for lunch to Macaroni Grill and then went shopping some more . . . we didn't get home until 11:30 that night! I was in a bit of trouble . . . but, we really had a lot of fun together.

This is the flower they gave her at the Macaroni Grill. She felt like a princess!

Austin was fed some priviledged information about a possible trip to Utah at Christmas and decided he had better get his curly locks cut off. Here is his before:

And his oh-so-GQ-after:

The girls all went for haircuts as well. This was Chloe's first real hair cut. She wanted nothing to do with it and we were on our way out of the store when she changed her mind. I was scared that she would change her mind half way through and walk out with half of a haircut. Whew . . . she lasted! I didn't get an after picture unless you count her picture with Santa.
This was a tricky picture to get . . . the kid did NOT want to go near Santa!! But she DID want that candy cane. In the end the candy cane won out. I was the photographer and she sat by me for all of the pictures and then as each child would leave she would inch a tiny bit closer, until I finally asked Santa if she could have her turn.